2019 - Student Project - 2 Week Sprint

Gobble Pro

Gobble, Inc. can increase its annual revenue by offering a premium service providing meals in combination with culinary tutorials to improve the cooking confidence of its users.

The Challenge

I love to cook and approach the kitchen with curiosity. It saddens me to think that some struggle to cook for themselves or their family out of fear or lack of knowledge. 
The Team

Cooking shouldn't be intimidating.

Common Fears

Fear of causing illness

May avoid some foods or overcook foods, leading to an unrealistic perception of how the food should taste

Fear of serving inedible food

May avoid using common seasoning or cooking using unfamiliar techniques to lower their error rate

Presentation Concerns

May avoid hosting guests, may distract from sharing the experience, could be perceived as too particular

Fear of the Cooking Process

May avoid foods that require a lot of prep or sway towards prepared foods

Fear of Recipes

May limit the variety of foods and stick to the same few meals they are comfortable cooking

“The real reason you don’t know anything is that you were never taught to live. You were taught to work.”

–Cameron LeBlanc

The Untaught Generations

55% of Millennials & Gen. Z feel "somewhat" comfortable cooking; 30% are less comfortable

Home economics is on the decline (enrollment down 40%)

Fewer stay-at-home parents raising millennials

Cooking has become an aspirational trend for millennials and gen. Z


80%

Millennials & Gen. Z feel that cooking at home is a good way to live and want to learn more.

The Mission

To enable the Timid Cook to develop their confidence in the kitchen by removing barriers & promote culinary learning in the comfort of their home.

The Timid Cook

  • Typically self-taught
  • 
  • Safe zone - cooking the few items they know
  • 
  • Limited knowledge of cooking techniques
  • 
  • Worries about wasting food and money
  • 
  • Overwhelmed by too many choices
  • 
  • Urban living
  • 
  • Wants to learn to cook better, but has limited time



Tuna Poké

Cooking Apps

Cooking Apps

Yellow square with rounded corners, black text: JAMIE OLIVER.

Jamie Oliver

BigOven logo: red cooking surface graphic and text in red.

BigOven

Food Network logo: Red circle with white

Food Network

Square app icon with rounded corners, orange background, white cursive text

Yummly

Yellow square with black text:

John Oliver

BigOven logo: a red and white stovetop graphic with

BigOven

Food Network logo: red circle with

Food Network

Orange square with white script

Yummly

Jamie Oliver

BigOven logo with a stove icon in a speech bubble.

BigOven

Food Network logo: white

Food Network

White

Yummly

Pros

  • Most users look online for cooking inspiration and recipes. ~22M people use recipe apps world-wide


  • Guided instructions


  • Access to thousands of recipes*


  • Grocery list generator*

Cons

  • Recipes - Too many choices can lead to decision paralysis



  • Grocery Shopping for unfamiliar foods can be daunting. Are you buying the right thing? Is it ripe enough?

Meal Kits

Meal Kits

HelloFresh website homepage showing prepared meals and call to action.
Martha Stewart with meal kit boxes, offering a cookbook featuring 22 weekly recipes.
Marley Spoon logo: black text on white background; “MARLEY” over “SPOON”, stylized “O” in “SPOON”.
Man and woman smile as they prepare a recipe. Blue Apron website promoting meal kits.
Blue Apron logo featuring a blue apron icon and the text
Website showing meal kit:
Red Gobble logo.

Pros

  • Curated menu items



  • Ingredients are delivered (opt. prepped/portioned)


  • Use of seasonal ingredients selected for freshness


  • Dietary options available


  • Saves time

Cons

  • Limited space for instructions can leave users with unanswered questions.
Cooking instructions with three photos: searing chicken, roasting vegetables, and finished dish.

Meal Kit Analytics

Meal Kit Analytics

  • 170 Meal kit businesses worldwide

  • 2015 | $400M sales in US market

  • Users: 70% continue to buy them after making their first purchase

  • Multi-Billion dollar potential market 
HelloFresh logo: green cursive text with a green fruit-shaped design.

HelloFresh delivered 7.5 million meals in March 2016 globally; US is the largest market

Blue Apron logo with a blue apron icon to the left of the text.

Blue Apron now ships more than 8 million meals a month in the U.S.

Red

Raised 29.9M in funding over 6 rounds

Salmon Tartare

Gobble, Inc.

Gobble, Inc.

  • AI - The menu algorithm has already improved 40% in relevance for each of its members

  • 10%-15% lower drop rate than the competitors

  • 60 days and most users become lifers

  • Silicon Valley Based

  • Head Chef is Michael Mina’s Protégé

Bar graph showing the average first-year spend on U.S. meal kits. Labels include $817 (Sun Basket), $815 (Hello Fresh).

Chimichurri Chicken

Hypothesis

By creating a premium line extension product that bridges the gap between cooking apps and meal kits, Gobble, Inc. can capture 25% more users and increase annual revenue by $3.8M.

Joining Markets

The new premium product takes advantage of both markets while at the same time, the friction points in each market are cancelled out by each other.


The implementation of guided instruction and cooking lessons provided by the cooking apps resolves the friction of the meal kits no having enough clarity during cooking.


While the curated ingredients and home delivery by the meal kits resolves the dilemma of having too many recipe choices and the stress of grocery shopping that come with the cooking apps.

Comparison of cooking apps and meal kits, listing pros and cons.

Gobble Pro MVP

QR CodeReader

Quick access to meal instructions & lessons to get users cooking quickly


Interactive Learning

Meals paired with detailed instructions & relevant culinary lessons


Gamification

Users track their progress & earn rewards as they improve


MVP - Screens

Mobile phone displaying a menu with two food options: Asian chicken and vegetables, and chicken and vegetables.

Menu Screen

User's select the menu items they want each week. As a Gobble Pro member, you gain early access to meals and priority shipping.

A smartphone screen displaying a recipe scan. The focus is on the document, with food visible at the bottom.

QR Code Reader

To start the lesson, simply scan the QR code. The user is quickly taken to the interactive lesson and prompted to start cooking.

Smartphone app with a video of a woman cooking in a kitchen; recipe title

Interactive Instruction

The interactive lessons walk users through getting the cooking supplies, identifying ingredients, and adds context to the meal being cooked.

Mobile app screen showing user profile and preferences with food options.

Progress Screen

As user's complete meals they earn points based on the meal complexity and diversity. User's earn product discounts and perks the more they progress.

Next Steps

Next Steps & Notes

Next Steps

  • Develop prototype for usability testing

  • Social sharing

  • Product sponsorship & deals (Marketplace)

  • Rewards


Notes

This was a passion project, so i really had a blast developing it. My team member Robert Charnley was a fantastic help with the initial research and some visual design. After we finished the initial round of concept development and gave our 1st round presentation Robert went on to develop his own projects.


I continued this project since it was my brainchild and food is one of my joys. I have since had a lot of fun presenting it at a MeetUp and developing it into this case study.

The Team

Bald man with glasses, arms crossed, smiling, wearing a black v-neck shirt against a dark background.

Christopher Centers

UX & Industrial Designer
Man in hat, looking at camera, with cows in the background. Black and white.

Robert Charnley

UX | Visual | Apparel